meticulous
Americanadjective
Related Words
See painstaking.
Other Word Forms
- meticulosity noun
- meticulously adverb
- meticulousness noun
- unmeticulous adjective
- unmeticulousness noun
Etymology
Origin of meticulous
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin metīculōsus “full of fear, fearful,” equivalent to metī- for metū- (stem of metus “fear”) + -culōsus, extracted from perīculōsus “dangerous” ( see perilous)
Explanation
Someone who is meticulous pays extreme attention to detail. If that person is, say, your surgeon or your accountant, you'll definitely want them to be meticulous! The Latin root of meticulous is metus, which means "fear." Someone who's meticulous is afraid of what will happen if they're not careful enough to get every detail right. "Detail-oriented" and "perfectionist" are other ways of describing someone who cares deeply about the small things and about getting things exactly right, every time. Concert pianists must be meticulous, because audiences are always listening for wrong notes.
Vocabulary lists containing meticulous
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was meticulous with his coffee brewing, treating it more like a lab experiment than a beverage.
From Slate • Apr. 29, 2026
The meticulous tracking of viewer behavior — not just what they watched but how they watched — became a key focus in the 1960s.
From Salon • Apr. 25, 2026
I had no training in acting, but I was a meticulous observer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
This requires a meticulous approach to planning, trying to group together grounds in a similar area of the country with different kick-off times weeks or months in advance.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026
Written in meticulous block letters on a page tom from Gogol’s Taras Bulba, it reads: S.O.S.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
